Alien EXO Suit District 9

MoMaZa

hi
this is my first post here so i would like to show something that im working on at this time
alien exo suit for who don't know it's on from weta concept design which was in distirct 9 and i totally love that suit i wish i could find thy toy of that suit but any way here are some progress i made so next coming up i took about 4 days to get into this details still alot to do also when i was building it i was looking to the 2d version which was competely diffrent than the 3d version so the 2d version had more muscules and was huge but when i got into very small hiding details i didn't have any pics so i was using the 3d version as refs so it maybe be look diffrent than the real one on the small details and cuting parts so thanks in advanced and waiting your C&C
here is my latest update on this project




latest update post 23#

ErichWK

I think his proportions are a bit off. His head + neck are supposed to protrude out a bit more and his body seems a bit squished. Did you make any orthos or are you eyeballing it?

WillMac

Holy eff! :poly142: I love that scene!

This feels more chunky, more OCP and robocop? Might be the pose.

The modelling looks crisp, really loving the details so far. Just check the overall shape though first perhaps. Nice work.

roosterMAP

great start! great detail on the "face."

ae.

WOW! that looks incredible man, good luck on the low-poly :P

Cordell Felix

holy shit!

IronHawk

cool start man. Did you model a decent blockout fist before smoothing? Id have some concerns about doing all the smoothing at this point.

ShootandRun

Wow that is awesome! Can't wait to see more!
I think this is what ErichWK was saying but I'll say it anyways. I noticed is the 'face' of the suit, it looks like it should be narrower and a little bit longer.
Found some images which might help:

Really cool concept art of the face close up \/
http://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2772226&postcount=62

and this\/

BadgerBaiter

Looking good

Found out recently I went to school with the dude who did the alien concept designs for that film

Razgriz

Hey man, this is a great start, and it's looking pretty sweet.

I think a lot of your edges are too sharp, though, and it's making a lot of the model seem very flat for me. I would consider softening it up a bit. It may be your renders, though, they make everything come off as very harsh.

Can't wait to see progress.

MoMaZa

ErichWK
WillMac
roosterMAP
ae.
Cordell Felix
IronHawk
ShootandRun
BadgerBaiter
Razgriz

Thanks alot folks i'm so glad to hear your feedback and u right about his head yea it's need to be out little bit but this cause of the resson that i said i was using the 2d version which shootandrun put it thanks alot man
http://www.sideshowcollectors.com/fo...6&postcount=62
this is totally dirrent head comparing to the movie one and that's what i was doing but at the end i will try to fix this or maybe i not build the body like the 2d version and build it like the one u put it shoutandrun
BadgerBaiter this guy who design that alien are awsome what 's his name ?

IronHawk i started by the head first

Razgriz here are another render maybe a little bit higer quailty hope it fix the problem with edges

here some updates

JGcount

This is some dope hardsurface modeling but I think some of your edges might be too sharp. Especially in the upper body area. Makes it lose some of its ellegance.

MoMaZa

thanks dude if u mean the body or upper the chest area so yea it should be very smooth as the orginal design i just modeled the base shape of that area and didn't touch it yet this area will take her stage :poly142:
here another some screen shots of the mesh

BadgerBaiter

MoMaza, his name is David Meng.
I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with him *ahem* ... although on his recent Gnomon Master Class and his Weta profile, he doesn't list attending lol.

Pedro Amorim

Some of your hard edges are really hard! like, knife sharpening hard! you might want to tone those control edges

MoMaZa

BadgerBaiter really talented guy big respect to him
Pedro Amorim thanks dude if u can show me what edges i will be so glad cause i just notice some places like the Shoulders and the chest area are their more like on guns or arms ?

MoMaZa

here a model overview in HD just something i did before sleep

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j13q5HzOxDc[/ame]

MoMaZa

damn the server down

ok here the the last updates
i made some changer and i make a softer edges as u suggest guys

ErichWK

Man, your suit..though technically pretty sweet, still is really off. It looks like it's missing a neck and kind of a chubbier version of the original suit. Like..it ate too much cat food.

MoMaZa

thanks eric u right it's still need to be organize very well just after i build the neck which isn't excist yet the things will fit together and will be able to control them but now it's impossible to controll anything of the body i just creat the shape then i'm going to work on it it's hard not that easy cause their is no pics to use as blueprints or even front and side views can fit together and from the begining i worked on the 2d front view and it was diffrent as i said before


here some update

nfrrtycmplx

not a bad execusion of a terrible design... the problem i have with the district 9 stuff is that it all looks like a big mess of bullshit that someone thought looked like a sci-fi we haven't seeeen before...

when really it's just a bunch of boring shapes stacked on top of eachother to create an uninteresting seal-o-wet

can't fault you for the design of the thing, but it's impossible for me to tell what i'm looking at in any of your screenshots without doing some detective work...

try lighting it better or ... modeling something with more interesting form. your talents are wasted here.

MoMaZa

nfrrtycmplx 2010 most of the scifi artists and many magazines had agree all with out any exi that district 9 had the most intersted designs all over the time and after this u come and say this sorry man i gotta say i'm not with you u wrong this designs has new generation of design and hard surfaces i mean the challenge of making something like this isn't easy as u say while i'm sure u aren't hardsurfaces modeller no body work on hard surfaces and gonna say what u saying

MoMaZa

ok here the i made the upper part from the nick just to see how the things fit togther so what do u think guys also some changes and some little details i add

BadgerBaiter

Looking good mate

Jeremy Tabor

Cool! Like has been said before, it does feel chunkier than I recall, and I think that has a lot to do with the width and the taper of that main center plate. Just from peeking at a few screen shots, it looks to me like the angle of the robo-penis is more extreme in the original than in what you currently have - in the movie it was almost jutting out at the audience, and yours seems to be pointing at the ground. More erect, if you will. :poly142:

Also, about the clipping of the thigh plate you've got in that first image of your last post, the legs in the movie were turned out a little, so that should fix that, or widen the hips a bit.

I'd be interested in seeing how a straight-on front view of your current progress stacks up against this one..


I feel your suit is just all-around more bulky, with most of the plate elements pushed a lot further than in the original. This is your interpretation of the thing tho, so nothing wrong with that, just make it work for ya. :thumbup:

MoMaZa

BadgerBaiter thanks man
Robat thanks alot buddy ok look here i made some changes i was looking into some photos and found front one view so i tried to scale some parts and look now i think it's thin now the pose is machted to the side view that shoutandrun put it here

nfrrtycmplx

Momaza - didn't say it was easy to model dude... I'm just pointing out that I can't tell what I'm looking at when I see a district 9 character... especially in your screen shots of the thing. That's why I suggested doing a different lighting scheme...

If you want to get upset that I think you're a talented modeler and that I don't like the district 9 design stuff, then that's cool. You don't have to listen to all the feedback people post on your thread...

But please don't tell me that a magazine knows best ... magazine's are marketing

instead, look for yourself at the silouhette generated by your model... render it flat in the viewport or something... then ask yourself what's so appealing about it.

some dudes wear pink shirts and pop their collars, other people think those people are dicks.

The thing you should take from this is that I like your work, but not the subject matter. Which is a matter of opinion... good job and good luck finishing this piece


but if i were going to offer up any helpful comments towards your immediate goal...

i'm thinking maybe you shoulda started with a simple base and worked out all the proportions of your character and shape and identified the problem areas with the form before pushing forward on the details (which makes sense that you'd do that, because those are the cool bits of the character)...

A way to adjust your course to yield the best result could be to model out a new base proportions mesh, then use your details you've already made to lay on top of that base... it's the same work, just kind of backwards.

in short - make a base blockout without a bunch of details and get a better sense of the over all form and volume of your character... then tack on the details

Good job

MoMaZa

nfrrtycmplx i really didn't mean any bad thing while i was answer you i just didn't like the way u spoke which i saw that u says don't model this or leave this one and do something else if u don't like the design of district 9 other pepole like as some peole see the art in avatar aren't great so it's diffrent from a person to another if i don't need the pepole feeback i would never post here even this is my first post in this forum so i'm not showing my skills over here i just need to take my model to the next level with the peole critcs
thanks man and sorry for the mess understanding


here some updates

nfrrtycmplx

I like the new render a lot more... i still recommend going back a few steps and using a base model to get the proportions/shape right, then putting your details on it...

right now, he's like a block of metal his torso is shaped like a triangle... seems like it would look better and more accurate if it was shaped more like a bug thinner and tapering slightly at the middle kind of thing...

in the reference you can kind of make out where the different body parts are represented in their form... there's a area that looks like it should be the shoulder, the chest, the stomache... while they all run together, they're still suggested through their proportions and shape...

that made sense in my head... probably not on the screen...

WillMac

I thought District 9 had some on point designs...

EDIT... I just read you are making your custom design but will still leave me thoughts.

Sick new render setup ! Say NO to the black blackground tho!!! btw... amazing modelling.. all been said.

My advice here... Make renders with cameras MATCHED to the references you do have... take into Photoshop... scale and superimpose make transparent, blend them, compare... and mark all the corrections you need to make. Be harsh to it in the now, and you will be rewarded later! Just be aware of perspectives betwixt the reference shots and your WIP renders... spend an hour or two just EYE BALLING it and marking....

I can spot the torso shape is off... that is a major. "It is more insect and humananoid than a boxy robot...", is how i would describe it, based on seeing the scene about 10 times. Block in all of it now perhaps...bits are missing, but get that outline!?? I think the shoulders and arm tops are more "shaped" than at the mo... just quick obs.

The point about silhouette, and then detailing it iteratively from that base... IS the best advice here.... and that base silhouette is also the "start of the game model"!, essentially... so be worth making some analysis.

Keep on dude, it rocks heavy either way!